Senator Jeff Merkley’s Announcement

October 22, 2025. Jeff Merkley (D) from Oregon, stood on the Senate floor during a federal government shutdown for nearly 24 hours to share an important announcement: An Authoritarian Government in the United States is no long coming, but here.

The senator stated what most scholars and historians warned about since the 2024 election season began, and the revealment of Project 2025. The Trump Administration (no longer an administration, but a Regime) remains hellbent on converting our free, democratic country into a White Christian Nation under an authoritarian rule. Merkley shared excerpts from “How Democracies Die” by Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky, pointing out similarities to the Trump presidency and the rise of fascisms.

Making the press the enemy marks the first step to a fascist regime. During Trump’s first term, he went to great lengths calling all credible news outlets as “fake news” specifically targeting New York Times, ABC, and other slightly left leaning media presses. During his second term, he continued his assault on the media by cutting federal support for outlets like NPR. Presently, his regime attacks major outlets that publish, broadcast, or air negative news about Trump. The regime targeted Steven Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel’s show because they often spoke against Trump. Colbert’s show finished the season, but ABC took Kimmel’s show off the air immediately. Fortunately, the voice of the people demanded the return of Kimmel and ABC listened. This will not stop the regime.

The regime searches for the next level of censorship on the American people. They are planning to implement spyware on social media sites to target influencers who speak out against Trump and silence the truth. Their first target: social media companies like Meta and Tik Tok. The Tik Tok sale to Oracle Corp. (a company known for its cloud and AI software) allows the company to oversee the algorithm in the United States controlling the content US citizens view on Tik Tok, potentially silencing Trump’s adversaries.

Another step toward fascism is restricting and stripping civil rights of particular citizens (actively going against the constitution). It begins with immigrants and other marginalized groups. Trump’s first term banned transgender people from the military and his second term enforces the ban and fires trans-people in the military. Not only banning them but also removing their benefits. Trump’s first term hailed building a wall, while this second term exacerbates immigration efforts with mass deportations through ICE. Trump claimed only to deport immigrants who were criminals, or “bad people,” however the American public quickly learned anyone with brown-colored skin became a target by ICE officers, regardless of citizenship.

How did we get here?

Stephen Miller and the Heritage Foundation have worked tirelessly searching for flaws in the country’s constitution and have exploited them seamlessly. During Trump’s first term, they appointed loyalist onto the Supreme Court. Judges they knew will lie under oath and rule in favor of the Regime. The overturning of Roe v Wade happened because of Trump’s appointed judges on the Supreme Court. The same judges ruled in favor of presidential immunity and currently support the regime’s efforts in restricting some civil liberties. Though the Supreme Court occasionally rules against the regime, the court enables most changes to our government from the Heritage Foundation. The SCOTUS rarely calls executive order flying out of the White House as unconstitutional.

Republicans currently control the legislative branch of our government, which has the power to remove the president. Most of the members of republican congress support Trumps and the Heritage Foundation’s attempt to overturn the government. They know they will prosper financially if the Foundation succeeds. However, some republicans fear retaliation from the regime. Should they speak up against Trump, they will lose their power in Washington, or worse, suffer harm in other ways.

With all three branches of the federal government under the Heritage Foundation’s control, overthrowing the government became a walk in the park. Easy and quiet. The regime fabricates a story about a left-leaning social media influencer, or other issues to distract the American public (like a building of a ballroom) while stripping SNAP benefits. Or make up a story of a city burning to the ground like Portland, while raising healthcare premiums. Claiming to make a peace deal in the middle east, while firing federal employees. Deploying national guards from one state to another, while recruiting more loyalist to serve as a private army (ICE). These are not coincidence, this is strategy. Unless we stay vigilant to what is happening, we (the American people) will no longer have a voice, or hear from those who dare to speak out now.

Side note: You can track all of the Heritage’s Foundations actions to an Authoritarian Regime through Trump from this website: Trump Action Tracker